DLP Capital CEO says North Florida remains key market as firm nears $1.5B in annual investments (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — Though steering a portfolio with investments across the U.S., North Florida remains DLP Capital’s key market to CEO Don Wenner.
It’s been a busy year for the St. Augustine-headquartered real estate investment firm. All-told, the company will have done around $1.5 billion of investments into affordable housing for working families by year-end, Wenner told the Business Journal.
Local highlights already span commitments to the downtown Jacksonville Pearl Street project, a rising $47 million age-restricted apartment community in St. Johns County and DLP’s 265 acre golf and entertainment complex in Callahan.
About a third of that is in the Sunshine State and concentrated in North Florida, he said. DLP’s also grown to nearly 700 full time employees, about 200 of which live in the region.
“People ask me, regularly, when we are going to expand into other types of investing,” Wenner said. “And our go-to answer is: once we solve the housing affordability crisis. Then we’re going to expand into other asset classes.”
DLP’s mission remains where it’s always been — to build thriving communities across the Sunbelt and beyond.
Wenner’s commitment to that mission was highlighted by global professional services firm EY, which named him its National EY Entrepreneur of the Year in the Service category, one of 10 national winners across multiple categories.
Focused on all kinds of housing, the company is growing into manufactured housing communities — a subsector Wenner described as the “best form of affordable housing.”
DLP’s also invested in RV zoning or cottage communities. In Florida, it owns and operates Island Oaks RV Resort in Glen St. Mary. It got into that space as a way to create affordable housing, Wenner said, but also invested in other similar properties it calls vacation rental resorts.
That’s basically what Pine Royale — DLP’s $63 million bet on golf, entertainment and resort living — is.
“The first component of that is a cool golf course entertainment venue,” Wenner said, “but the main part of the project is going to predominantly be a vacation rental resort.”
Cottage communities are a business model DLP isn’t doing anywhere but Florida, and that’s by design. Wenner forecasts eventually expanding it into markets beyond North Florida but wants to stick to communities DLP already knows and believes in.
A different kind of growth
Outside strictly real estate, the company also operates in the financial sector with DLP Bank. Backed by a consortium of private investors, including Wenner, the bank came to be after it was acquired by DLP Bancshares and renamed from Community State Bank in November 2023.
The bank has $203 million in deposits, according to the latest FDIC data. Headquartered in Starke, it was named on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies this year, its second consecutive year.
Last month, DLP Bancshares completed its merger with Regent Capital Corporation, the parent company of Oklahoma-based Regent Bank, Wenner said.
Announced earlier this year, the merger creates a combined organization of approximately $2 billion in total assets, $1.8 billion in deposits and $1.6 billion in loan and leases, according to a release in April.
“Now it’s one investor group with two banks,” said Wenner. “Eventually we’ll merge those two banks together, keeping a very big focus and presence here in Northeast Florida.”
Photo courtesy of DLP Capital